Heirs Of Ipswich
by BlackHart
Summary: The Covenant of Silence always had secrets, that is until Caleb begins to experience the consequences of his newfound power, along with a meeting the new girl at Spencer who seems to harbor some secrets of her own. On Hiatus.


_**Disclaimer: All Characters, references to The Covenant movie do not belong to me. No copyright infringement intended. Original characters and concepts created for the purpose of this fanfiction do belong to me.**_

_**Note: **This is my first Covenant story. This is my first Covenant story so please be patient and don't forget to review. I do have a plot in mind but it will develop in the present day in the next chapter. The prologue is here to establish some events that will play an importance role in the plot._

___**Heirs of Ipswich**_

_No one really knows how The Power came to be._

_Not even the Book of Damnation recorded its beginning. But those who mastered it have always been hunted._

_In the middle of the 17__th__ Century, many escaped the inhuman Witch hunts that raged in mainland Europe by escaping to the New world but the persecution followed and those who possessed The Power were persecuted once more and the Salem Witch Trials began._

_**1692 Ipswich Colony, Massachusetts**_

__

_One man stood on the edge of the gallows contemplating his fate. It was just past noon_ _and the villagers of Ipswich_ _had come out of their daily routine to see the "show" as many had called it. It was his punishment to bear for crimes of Witchcraft. Here he stood on the gallows moments from death. His dark eyes surveyed the village he had once called home, looking for something or someone familiar but all he saw was the townsfolk with their rotten vegetables and fruit ready to throw. _

_Many had began to throw the rotten produce at him but he paid no attention to them. Many a villager cried out in anger. "Witch!!" His dark eyes travelled from the mob of townsfolk to the skies above, he tried to take in the glow of the sun. The last sun he would ever see on this god forsaken earth but the crowd only jeered for his demise even more._

_His dark eyes fell to the crowd once more, as his dark shoulder length hair whipped around his neck in the cold winter breeze. He was to be the last in a long line of witches and he would suffer the horrors of the Salem_ _Witch Trials. Months ago he had been outed by his mistress "Goody" Pope as the folk used to call her. He had shared everything with her, love, lust, and the promise of a better life after her husband Jacob had died in a fishing accident. He had hoped that eventually in time they would be able to marry but fate had other plans. He had been betrayed not only by her but by his brothers. To cover her own infidelity while her husband had been alive, the woman he loved so had accused him of being an Incubus, a sexual predator. They had been caught in an intimate position by a nosy neighboring couple and to save herself the shame, and the condemnation the church would put on her shoulders as an upstanding woman of the community, she had accused him of being in league with Lucifer himself._

_He felt betrayed, like Adam had when Eve had fallen to original sin. As Samson to his lover Delilah, there were few words that could describe his sense of loss and betrayal. His mistress had betrayed him as did his brothers. John Putnam awoke from his reverie, he eyed the crowd dangerously, he no longer wished to go over his regrets in this life over and over again, for the memories of their affair was all that he had left and not even the local priest could take that from him. Any status he once held in the village he had lost, as if overnight along with his property being confiscated to be sold to some unsuspecting townsfolk. _

_He had nothing left and had been branded as a witch, so why not act like one? He caught the eye of the crowd, capturing the attention of the folk almost threatening to curse them with afflictions that God himself could not plague mankind with. It was these peoples stubborn beliefs that witches were agents of evil that amused him the most, when their ignorance was plain as day to see. This gave the young man some satisfaction even before his moment of death, the town would speak of him, immortalized not as a man but as a witch, who cursed, enchanted and seduced the townswomen. Better to be immortalized than to die a simple death. He thought. _

_Then his eyes caught something in the crowd or someone. His dark gaze brightened slightly at the sight of her. His lover, Goody Pope stood amongst the jeering crowd. In that moment his heart almost stopped and the sounds and motions of the crowd were in slow motion. It was almost like time itself had stopped to give them this one moment which they could share. The woman was older then him by a a year or two but she was truly beautiful in his eyes. No woman in the colony matched her delicate golden locks, her azure blues eyes and mostly her gentle smile. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds and a silent understanding was found between the forbidden lovers. He needed to forgive her, lest he die regretting their love. Their moment was interrupted as the provost who stood beside him spoke and the crowd fell into silence._

_"John Putnam, you have been found guilty of the crime of Witchcraft. Do you repent for your sins?"_

_"No. Only the lord himself can give absolution to those who are truly guilty of such a crime. I am NOT!"_

_The crowd who had been silent erupted into murmurs and shouts of disagreement. Since the Salem_ _Witch Trials had come about, everyone you knew could be a witch or in league with the devil. Any possible affliction could have been caused by a practising witch seeking to cause harm and misfortune._

_"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." A local priest spoke out from the crowd. The murmur of voices flew from the crowd in agreement along with a few rotten vegetables and fruit. John Putnam paid no attention to the crowd he was more concerned with his mistress. His dark eyes caught hers gaze and he noticed a a gentle tear escaping down her cheek. If he wasn't facing death he would have wiped her tears away and convinced her their love was worth fighting for but he could not give the crowd the satisfaction of seeing him vulnerable. They may have everything else I own but my love - is one that they won't have. He thought to himself in defiance._

_His eyes trailed down the body he remembered so well and he noticed a delicate hand on her abdomen. Goody Pope stood and looked at her former love as she touched the place where their unborn love child grew each day, just another consequence of her affair with the Putnam boy. A tear fell from her eyes but she quickly wiped it away lest, some townsfolk saw her showing sympathy for the accused. How ironic that would have been the accuser showing sympathy and compassion for the accused. It was unheard of an in practical, she had sent her lover to death so she could maintain what little thread of reputation she held in Ipswich. John Putnam's dark gaze snapped back to the provost that stood beside him. She's with child! He thought as he noticed her actions._

_His brief moment of happiness was cut short as the provost spoke again. "In the face of death, you have refused to repent. May our lord give you eternal life and forgive you in this life or the next."_

_His face became defiant as he knew what was to come next. Death. The last thing John Putnam saw was the four men that stood at the back of the crowd. He knew them all, they were his brothers, not by blood but by sacred ancestry. Each wore a look of sadness and distaste at the hanging that was to take place but each knew the Covenant had to be protected even if they had to sacrifice one of their own. A brother betrayed by his brothers, as did Cain to Abel, they each bore the guilt at watching their brother die. That day John Putnam hung from the gallows as any person accused of Witchcraft before him._

_**...**_

_Dusk had fallen and the colony had almost forgotten about the days events. No one dared speak the name of John Putnam. Four men walked into the centre of the colony no said a word to each other but they approached the gallows slowly. The body of the recently deceased John Putnam still hung for the rope and no townsfolk had dared move the body for fear they would be cursed with one affliction or another. Superstition and the Witch hunts had spread through the town like wildfire and the fuel for this dangerous pursuit was the lives of the innocent and the guilty. _

_Both witch and mortal had been convicted of the crime and John Putnam had been one of the few real witches to be found and taken in. The four men got work loosing the deceased body of their brother from its constraints. The bodies of those convicted were usually claimed by their next of kin and as John had no family but a young widow. His brothers were the ones left to the task._

_One of the four a sandy-blonde man freed the corpse from the rope and carried it down from the gallows. The four carried the body to the newly built colonial house and pitched it into a shallow grave outside. The four men stood over the body contemplating something that had been left unsaid, before the gallows had claimed his life._

_"We are sorry John." A dark-haired member of the foursome said, paying his respects. All four looked down at the body sadly before they grabbed at some shovels to their side and began to cover the body with dirt. John Putnam was dead but the Covenant remained, no member of the five families would suffer the horrors of the witch trials again._

Briefly after his death, in 1692 the remaining four families decided to protect themselves from further persecution and formed what is now known to be the Covenant of Silence, a blood oath sworn in by each member of the four families to keep the secret of the bloodline within the four families and avoid persecution and outside influences from those who may wish to do them harm or persecute them for their power. And each consequent generation within, The Covenant of Silence grew stronger in its vow...until now.


End file.
